February 28, 200916 yr was just in the dt macy's and they now have a limited selection of INC and ed hardy men's clothes. I stress limited
March 16, 200916 yr Monday, March 16, 2009, 1:24pm EDT Tower Place tenant to open March 30 Business Courier of Cincinnati http://cincinnati.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/stories/2009/03/16/daily6.html Everheart, the card and gift shop, has set a date for when it will bring its Vera Bradley bags, Yankee Candles and Stonewall Kitchen gourmet foods to Tower Place Mall: March 30.
March 24, 200916 yr Tower Place eyes radical remake http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090324/BIZ01/303240006/1001/BIZ In an effort to save one of the nation’s last downtown malls, the owners of Tower Place are considering some radically new tenants: a super market, a movie theater, space for a live cooking show and an interactive museum.
March 24, 200916 yr A movie theater would be so ideal. I hate going to newport for movies. A high end bowling alley could definitely work too, if the space is there
March 24, 200916 yr I look forward to hearing more about this soon. I believe that gearing Tower Place Mall into more of a neighborhood and entertainment destination will be a win. There is no need or hope to try to reinvent what has left for Kenwood; that's done and gone. With 3,000 residential units going up in downtown in the next 5 years (if it is all according to plan), that requires a huge demand for neighborhood centers -- grocery stores, small boutiques, and the like. I also see a need to expand the entertainment options, by including in a bowling alley (Lucky Strike could do very well), a premium movie theater, and so forth.
March 24, 200916 yr I love the idea of the children's museum. My parents used to take me to COSI in Columbus all the time, and it was awesome.
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March 24, 200916 yr I love the idea of the children's museum. My parents used to take me to COSI in Columbus all the time, and it was awesome. Cincy already has a pretty nice children's museum in Union Terminal. My son loves it.
March 24, 200916 yr As far as a children's museum, Union Terminal has that covered. Outlet malls may be popular in some locales, but developers of those prefer a strip-mall version that is either near a major tourist hub (i.e. Gatlinburg/Sevierville), or between two major cities on an interstate (i.e. Jeffersonville). I've seen so many outlet malls go bust so quickly, or ones that struggle years after completion (i.e. an old mill in Reading, PA was converted in the early 1990s but now struggles).
March 24, 200916 yr But hypothetically, if a developer were hot to redo Tower Place as outlets, what would you think? What if the idea were extended beyond Tower Place to a larger portion of downtown?
March 24, 200916 yr Movie Theater. There is really no large scale place to go unless you want to drive to Newport or points north. Please put a movie theater in there!!!! Make a bowling alley like Garden Bowl in Detroit. Better yet, make a whole complex like the Majestic Theater. That would be great, they have a lot of good shows and things to do. I would love if they did something like that. It would attract a lot of people. Supermarket or independent retailers. Who wants another Kenwood with all of its high end chains and "fancy and unique" restaurants...yes I am referring to you Maggiano's. OK, that was mostly because I hate chain stores and restaurants. In Chicago I have seen Dominick's set up in unusual buildings and places.
March 24, 200916 yr I think it would be cool to have a movie theater in there that showed new releases as well as old classics, I saw that at a place in SF. I disagree with the outlet malls, even though i did just today see an article where some guy in cleveland is trying to do just that in their downtown. But there is a large outlet mall currently under construction just north of cincinnati, so I'd like to think we have our fair share of 'em.
March 24, 200916 yr I was hoping nobody would reference that article quite yet... trying to measure how good the outlet plan sounds in the context of already having retail. Oh well, a new outlet center going up near Cincinnati kind of kills the analogy anyway. If Cincinnati has no downtown movie theater, I would put that high on your list.
March 24, 200916 yr IMO, a movie theater and/or a high-end grocery store would be a far more appropriate use for the space than an outlet mall. As others have pointed out, downtown could use a bit of late-night pedestrian activity of its own without sending it all to Newport, and if the city really wants to promote downtown living, there needs to be a full-service grocery store convenient to downtown residents. Given its adjacency to Carew Tower and the Netherland Plaza hotel, I think the space calls for something a bit more upscale than an outlet mall. How well does the lower level food court do during the week? In my experience with downtown malls, the food court is generally the place with the most activity, especially during weekday lunch hour.
March 24, 200916 yr Movie Theater. There is really no large scale place to go unless you want to drive to Newport or points north. Please put a movie theater in there!!!! While I agree that a movie theater would be a nice addition to Carew Tower, it's not like Newport is far away. That theater is less than 1 mile from downtown. Getting to NOTL is no more difficult for downtown residents than getting to Fountain Square is for Newport residents.
March 24, 200916 yr IMO, a movie theater and/or a high-end grocery store would be a far more appropriate use for the space than an outlet mall. As others have pointed out, downtown could use a bit of late-night pedestrian activity of its own without sending it all to Newport, and if the city really wants to promote downtown living, there needs to be a full-service grocery store convenient to downtown residents. Given its adjacency to Carew Tower and the Netherland Plaza hotel, I think the space calls for something a bit more upscale than an outlet mall. How well does the lower level food court do during the week? In my experience with downtown malls, the food court is generally the place with the most activity, especially during weekday lunch hour. Fully agree about the grocery. Maybe Kroger should open one on the ground floor of their tower. Are there even small-scale grocers downtown? If not, that should be a gigantic priority. You can't do downtown residential without at least some kind of grocery store.
March 24, 200916 yr A grocery store at Tower Place doesnt make any sense. Converting space in that old building into a grocery store would be prohibitively expensive. National grocers like Kroger, Whole Foods etc. typically will only do new construction. All of the stores are cookie cutter, even their urban stores. Plus, where are people going to park? I always envisioned the surface lot at 4th and Plum to be a great location for a future grocery store. It would be the perfect place for a Whole Foods like the stores throughout inner Chicago. They typically have a small parking garage connected to the store that is monitored so office workers dont use it as free parking. Lots of prepared foods and a big wine/beer section. I also think that is the ideal part of the CBD for a grocery store. It is slightly more residential on the SW end of downtown and it is very close to the Banks. They would also get a big lunch crowd if they focused on prepared food and had a big dinning area.
March 24, 200916 yr The new Tesco grocery' (Fresh and Fast or something like that) that are hot out west would be good and something a little different. I don't think it needs to be as large a movie theatre as NOTL, but rather 2-4 screens would seem to be a good start.
March 24, 200916 yr A grocery store at Tower Place doesnt make any sense. Converting space in that old building into a grocery store would be prohibitively expensive. National grocers like Kroger, Whole Foods etc. typically will only do new construction. All of the stores are cookie cutter, even their urban stores. Plus, where are people going to park? I always envisioned the surface lot at 4th and Plum to be a great location for a future grocery store. It would be the perfect place for a Whole Foods like the stores throughout inner Chicago. They typically have a small parking garage connected to the store that is monitored so office workers dont use it as free parking. Lots of prepared foods and a big wine/beer section. there is about 25,000 sq feet of street level retail in the across the street garage.
March 24, 200916 yr The city owns Findlay market. It would be nice if they could leverage city owned property downtown to usher in a big grocer.
March 24, 200916 yr I don't know if a movie theater would be the best fit for downtown, as Newport is so close. I know that when people in Hyde Park, Mt. Lookout, Anderson, etc. go to movies, they go to Newport because it's the most convenient, and the theater is nice, and parking is right under it. It would be hard for downtown to compete because parking will probably be more difficult, there won't be as large a space, meaning not as much selection as Newport, and from Columbia Parkway, it's about the same distance, if not closer. I think a grocery store, bowling alley, even some night clubs might be the best fit. I just hope whatever goes in there has a street presence, and that people walking by on the street know what is in there without having to go in, like they have to do now. Also, the possibility of Macy's closing due to this technicality in their long term contract scares me a little...
March 24, 200916 yr Parking shouldn't be an issue for theaters at Tower Place, since there's a huge garage right above it / across the street from it. The bigger issue would probably be trying to squeeze the auditoriums into the existing structural module, as well as emergency egress issues that come into play when you have assembly spaces such as theaters. I also don't think proximity to Newport would necessarily be an issue, assuming both theaters aren't playing the exact same movies at the same time.
March 25, 200916 yr Didnt there used to be a theatre downtown, next to Garfield Place, on Race I think?
March 25, 200916 yr It was called The Real Movies, I think. They had the Rocky Horror Picture Show there every Saturday night. That corner used to be a hot one when the Blue Wisp was right across the street. The mall building is a terrible design. It doesn't look like a mall from the outside and nobody knows it has parking directly above it. It made sense when it was built because McAlpin's was directly across the street.
March 25, 200916 yr I recently visited Lincoln Square in Bellevue, WA (outside of Seattle). Granted it's new construction... but while walking around it I felt Tower Place could really be remodeled to be similar in look/feel. Includes: Movie Theater Bowling Alley Billiards parlor Comedy Club Shopping "It's just fate, as usual, keeping its bargain and screwing us in the fine print..." - John Crichton
March 27, 200916 yr Whirlyball I have been looking into opening a whirlyball arena in Cincinnati for some time now. I talked to the guy who runs it in Cleveland, and he estimates it would be an approx 1 million dollar investment. Too much for me... Still an amazingly incredible game.
April 5, 200916 yr Whirlyball Yes, absolutely! I love the idea of the children's museum. My parents used to take me to COSI in Columbus all the time, and it was awesome. Cincy already has a pretty nice children's museum in Union Terminal. My son loves it. Yeah, lets leave the wonderful children's museum alone at Union Terminal and do something slightly more functional or additive for the center city area. Movie theatre would be great too.
April 6, 200916 yr What is it? I've never heard of it... As I understand it, it's like lacrosse except you're all driving bumper cars.
April 6, 200916 yr There is a new store in Tower Place in the old Brentano's space. It's called Everheart. They sell cards, candles, pictures, purses, and "gift items." I stopped by last week, and it reminds me of a Hallmark store. Downtown has needed a place like this since Hallmark and M. Hopple both closed up shop downtown. I used to buy a lot of cards from the convenience store in my office building. Now I plan on going to Everheart.
September 17, 200915 yr Skip the trip to the Vatican; Cincinnati's Studio Vertu will open here Studio Vertu, a maker of marble coasters and tiles sold by the Smithsonian, Williams-Sonoma and Toad Hollow winery, is opening its own outlet store, at Tower Place Mall. Continue to full Business Courier of Cincinnati article "It's just fate, as usual, keeping its bargain and screwing us in the fine print..." - John Crichton
September 17, 200915 yr Excellent, also there is a sushi place going into the old churchills. They will need to have access from the street.
September 17, 200915 yr I recently visited Lincoln Square in Bellevue, WA (outside of Seattle). Granted it's new construction... but while walking around it I felt Tower Place could really be remodeled to be similar in look/feel. Includes: Movie Theater Bowling Alley Billiards parlor Comedy Club Shopping Seems like that would just be a little NOTL-North now that the Levy is getting a bowling alley.
January 7, 201015 yr Rookwood developer to run Tower Place By Laura Baverman • [email protected] • January 6, 2010 http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100106/BIZ01/301060003/Rookwood+head+to+run+Tower+Place Cincinnati already has more traffic than the city centers of its neighbors such as Louisville, Lexington and Columbus, said Fallon. He hopes to reflect the downtown environment of Indianapolis, which has vibrant retail tenants.
January 7, 201015 yr ^Tower Place can't be killed as easily as City Center since it's not in a building dedicated to just a mall. I never thought of that... er, carry on.
January 8, 201015 yr Tower Place sits mostly on the footprint of Pogue's, a department store. The problem that came with it was that always an inward looking building, not street oriented, which is only kind of retail downtown's should have (with a couple small exceptions).
January 8, 201015 yr The concept of driving in to park, going throgh Tower Place, and then fanning out to other downtown destinations....that is how I used the place. It was more like an arcade in that way. I was there back after Xmas and noticed they still have stores there. Including a TJ Maxx and relocated Cincinnati Shop. So not dead yet.
January 8, 201015 yr ^Tower Place can't be killed as easily as City Center since it's not in a building dedicated to just a mall. I never thought of that... er, carry on. Actually, park of it is in its own building. It replaced the Carew Tower parking garage that was razed around 1987.
February 4, 201015 yr 2 more stores close at Tower Place By Laura Baverman • [email protected] • January 22, 2010 Margarita's Mexican restaurant and Foot Locker have joined the growing list of vacant storefronts at downtown's Tower Place Mall. http://nky.cincinnati.com/article/AB/20100122/BIZ01/1230330/2-more-stores-close-at-Tower-Place
February 4, 201015 yr While it’s disappointing to have anyone leave downtown, the Margaritas and Foot Locker closings were both anticipated and are part of our plan to reinvent Tower Place going forward,” said Mark Fallon, Anderson’s vice president of leasing. “The wheels of progress have already begun to turn.” Let's hope this isn't just hot air
July 20, 201014 yr <a href="http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100719/BIZ01/307190143/Tower-Place-in-court-fight">Enquirer, July 19, 2010</a> A legal battle that could put the future ownership of the mostly vacant Tower Place mall in limbo continued in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court on Monday Regions claims that the mall’s owners failed to make required improvements and are in default on an $18.1 million loan for the 70,000-square-foot retail center and attached parking garage on East Fourth Street.
July 23, 201014 yr Plans for Tower Place cloudy Armand Lasky saw in Tower Place Mall the opportunity to own a high-profile parking structure in the heart of a rebounding downtown Cincinnati. But Cincinnati officials and residents had higher hopes for the New York man. They hoped he'd pay as much attention to the declining retail center as to filling up parking spaces. http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100722/BIZ01/7230368/Plans-for-Tower-Place-cloudy “All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.” -Friedrich Nietzsche
July 23, 201014 yr That was a fairly insightful article. I wish I understood the continegies that the author seemed to be hinting at in the piece though. How is Macy's and the others tied to Tower Place? Is it more of an indirect connection - Tower Place would help boost foot traffic downtown or is there something in their lease? Either way Tower Place needs the type of push that the Banks has received - massive organized support.
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